NOVPUBFive days passed by after Avery, Jasmine, and Kasandra went to meet with Jasmine's mother.
During that time, the new schedule for the trail Grito was set to testify at was supposed to have been set, but it was still being delayed.
While no other major events like the attacks on the Alliance Police base and the High Court of Justice had happened, small incidents had been cropping up all over Azade.
Individually, none of them were particularly noteworthy. Things like public transit systems malfunctioning and needing to be shut down for a couple hours. All of the produce in a large convey being shipped to a local festival being invested with insects. And large-scale breakouts of uncommon but minor illness that were more annoyances than actual problems.
These were just some of the incidents happening, and though they were occurring all over the world, the majority were focused in just one region.
Still, no one put anything together at first.
Normally any one of these disturbances would merit little attention. Some were not even worthy of short local news stories.
It all just seemed to be a bunch of random unfortunate occurrences happening within a short period of time.
Their causes all seemed to be different as well. Some came down to mechanical malfunctions or human error, while some were attributed to pranks by bored kids with too much time on their hands.
No one had gotten particularly hurt, so the authorities were hardly involved, especially when more serious matters required their attention.
The perpetrators behind the recent attacks were of far more importance, and the Alliance Police along with Azade's Keeper's of the Peace were attempting to trace the origins of the cargo ship that had been transporting the suicide drones. A vessel of the that size had to be made in a major shipyard. There were answers out here, and they were intent on finding them.
In the meantime, Avery and his team had nothing to do.
Going out and doing mercenary work was out of the question, since they needed to be around to protect Grito, and there were hardly any jobs in the Cocarro System to begin with.
They system was too stable and had an abundance of defenders to keep the population safe from attacks.
Any pirates that tried to operate in the area would meet the same fate as the over five thousand suicide drones that had attacked Azade.
It might have been a bit morbid, but mercenaries did the best in places that were experiencing at least some amount of turmoil and had a lack of personnel to deal with it.
So, Avery and his team simply took this time to enjoy the base's facilities.
Certainly, it was a fully functioning Alliance Police base, but it was also like a retreat. Located on a beautiful island in the middle of the ocean, it was quite relaxing.
However, while most of Avery's team was playing around, not considering it their jobs to worry about what was going on and let the Alliance Police handle it. A single individual was hard at work piecing things together.
Jasmine was heavily invested in her own home and was keeping track of the problems going on. She had honed her investigative skills while still working as a member of the Alliance Police on Yuson II and was enjoying getting the chance to use them again.
Of course, she was not fully devoting herself to this work. She joined the others more often than not when they went around the base. Especially whenever they headed to the beach. She had wanted to show off the cute swimsuit she had bought to Avery after all. Those were chances she was not going to pass up as a young woman in love.
Nevertheless, it was not until today that things started to click together for Jasmine.
Everything seemed so random and inconsequential that she could not be certain that it was not just a stroke of bad luck.
She had been thinking that perhaps there was nothing really going on with all of these events. That the attack had been the major play by the Odium Syndicate and that they had failed. The trial had not been stopped, merely delayed.
And Grito was still perfectly fine and showed no inclination of running away again since Avery and everyone else was looking out for him. He felt a lot more secure with them than the Alliance Police, since he was a comrade to them that they would protect with their lives, rather than just a tool for their own ends.
Yet, when Jasmine came across one of these seemingly unrelated articles, it made her remember the incident that had cut her reunion with her mother short.
"Thousands of protestors have congregated around Azade's Superior Court as Leland Glas awaits his arraignment." Jasmine said, reading out loud a line from the article she had glanced at.
She probably would not have paid this too much mind normally. But since it was the reason she had to part with her mother early, it had stayed in her mind.
There was also the mutterings she had heard from Regina when they were watching the news broadcast. It seemed that she knew Leland and did not believe him capable of the crime he was being accused of.
Jasmine, feeling her intuition tingling, dug deeper into this subject. Usually, it would not have held any connection to Grito, but due to a series of multiple events, the trial concerning the suspected members of the Odium Syndicate and of Leland Glas were now taking place in the same court.
"The protests might be attributing the to the delays, but it's not like this will be enough to stop it. What is their goal in doing all of this? Gah, if only I knew who the Alliance Police suspected, I could try and figure things out better."
Unfortunately, the list of suspects that the Alliance Police had put together was tightly guarded information. It was highly confidential, and very likely that all of the individuals Grito would be testifying against were everyone the Alliance Police had their eyes on.
Still, Jasmine knew that something was going on, and it almost certainly centered around the Odium Syndicate. No doubt they would be willing to do just about anything to keep their powerful collaborators within the Dramid Alliance in their positions.
"This is as much as I can do here. I'm just collecting news stories and making calls to involved people for some information. I've got theories and speculations, but nothing more." Jasmine grumbled.
She knew that if she wanted to investigate deeper, she would need to head to the suspicious areas and start really gathering evidence. What she was doing right now any conspiracy theorist with a connection to Azade's digital network could pull off.
Unfortunately, Jasmine was lacking both authority and the means to dig into the situation. She was just some mercenary now, not a member of the Alliance Police.
Bringing what she had complied to someone like Commander Traustur or Commander Berk would likely not get her very far. The two of them were far more concerned with the recent attack rather than a series of seemingly unrelated incidents that were hardly a priority for the local authorities. Let alone the Alliance Police
"I didn't want to do this, but I might need to call on my mother. If I want authority, there's no one better to borrow it from."
Jasmine was hesitant to do so though. She had only just started getting closer to her mother and did not wish to bring up such a difficult and selfish request. This was not her job to get involved in. From a certain perspective, she was just an outsider meddling in affairs that she should not have.
Yet, her gut feeling was telling her to dig deeper. That the events going on were related to the Odium Syndicate and Grito.
"I should at least run this by Avery and Kasandra first." Jasmine mumbled as she became more inclined to reach out to her mother.
Around forty minutes later, the two of them returned. They had just finished playing a game called Tidrite. It was a popular sport in the Dramid Alliance, involving balls, rackets, nets, and hoops. A somewhat complicated game, but one that many people enjoyed once they learned how to play.
"Yeah, I just can't keep up. You, Kaiden, and Oliva are way too fast. It really wasn't fair that all three of you ended up on the same team. No way am I letting you convince me that Ezra's strength offsets your agility again."
Jasmine could hear Avery complaining about the unfairness of the matchup in their game of Tidrite. Except from his tone of voice, he was obviously not too upset about it. No doubt he enjoyed the game even if it was an uphill battle.
"Well, I had to push my advantage while I still have it. Once you and Jasmine get your augmentations, I won't be able to run circles around you anymore." Kasandra said with a wry grin on her face.
It was at this point in their conversation that the two of them walked into the cockpit where Jasmine had been collecting information
"It sounds like the two of you had a good time. Though I guess I don't need to ask who won." Jasmine said, turning around and giving the two of them a friendly smile.
"Yeah, we certainly did. You'll need to join us when you can. Of course, I know that you've been working on something important to you right now, so don't feel like you need to force yourself. Now, why don't you tell us what you've found. I'm interested in what you've been up to."
